Question

Every day, 340 million people speak it. One billion people are learning it and it is said that by 2050, half of the world’s population will be using it. What are we talking about? That is the global language—English.

The English language started in Britain in the 5th century. It is a mixed language. It was built up when German. Scandinavian and French invaders settled in England and created a common language for communication.

Today it is the official language of the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Ireland as well as many islands in the Caribbean. Many other countries and regions use it for politics and business, for example, India. Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines. English is also one of the official languages of Hong Kong.

But global advertising and pop music mean that in most countries, you will see or hear some English. Thanks to McDonalds, we all know about “burgers”. “fries” and “milkshakes”. Songs by Madonna, Britney Spears and Celine Dion are in English. We can sing along, even if we do not understand what we are singing!

English is a messy (雜亂的) language. Every year, dictionaries include new words that talk about popular culture, for example, computer-related words such as "blogging", "download" and "chartroom". Also included are words that teenagers use. Who does not know “cool”, “OK” and “hello”? Other languages also influence English. Many English words come from French. Words like “café” and expressions like “c'est la vie” (that is life) are all part of the English language. On the other hand, the French language includes English words like "le weekend" and "le camping". German words are also part of English. Words like "kindergarten" come from the German language.

Recently, British people have become interested in “yoga”. But the word comes from an ancient Hindu language in India.

1.The English language has a history of ______.

A. over 2000 years B. over 1500 years

C. over 500 years D. over 1000 years

2.The underlined expression “thanks to” can be replaced by ______.

A. as usual B. in order to

C. because of D. as if.

3. Which of the following statements is true about the language of English?

A. It has borrowed words from all the other languages.

B. It has been changing all the time.

C. French words are used by the English because dictionaries have French words.

D. Singers and film stars have the greatest influence on language.

4.How many people in the world are using English now?

A. One billion people.

B. not mentioned above, but the number is growing rapidly.

C. almost all the people in the world.

D. 340 million.

5.Many countries and regions use it for politics and business except______.

A. Norway B. Nigeria

C. the Philippines D. the USA

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.B

4.D

5.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文講述英語是一門國際語言，是許多國家的官方語言，但是也受許多其他語言的影響。

1.The English language started in Britain in the 5th century.”因?yàn)槟壳笆?1世紀(jì)初，那么（20－5）×100 = 1500，所以英語應(yīng)有1500多年歷史了。故該題正確答案為B.

2.A. as usual照常；B. in order to為了；C. because of因?yàn)�；由于；D. as if仿佛；好像，根據(jù)該句句子主干：我們都知道漢堡包、炸薯?xiàng)l和奶昔。顯然，這是由于/多虧了McDonalds，故該題正確答案為C.

3.all the other languages；選項(xiàng)C.錯(cuò)在其原因表述錯(cuò)誤；選項(xiàng)D.錯(cuò)在使用了最高級the greatest.根據(jù)文章倒數(shù)第二段中“Every year, dictionaries include new words that talk about popular culture, for example, … ”可知，英語一直在變化。故該題正確答案為B.

4.Every day, 340 million people speak it.”可知，目前大約有340 million（3億4千萬）人使用英語。故該題正確答案為D.

5. B. Nigeria尼日利亞C. the Philippines菲律賓D. the USA美國均會(huì)在政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)方面使用英語，故該題正確答案為A. Norway

考點(diǎn)：社會(huì)文化類文章的閱讀